Using The Online Chatbox To Your Advantage

Poker is a game where you will use anything within reason to gain an edge over your opponents to punish them and take all their chips. I view poker as a game of psychological warfare because more of the time you are not playing your own cards but exploiting the weaknesses of bad players. For example, if a positionally aware player is open raising a lot of the time in late position, it’s impossible for them to have a strong hand every time they are raising, and they will fold to a 3bet, so you can re-raise them relentlessly with any two cards.

In addition to spotting the fish at the table, another way to make easy money at the poker table is to identify players who go on tilt. Even though online poker can be a very impersonal game, emotions sometimes take over and affect players games. Playing with a negative mindset will prevent anyone from playing their best game.

One of the best ways to know if a player is tilting is to see what they are typing in the online chatbox in between hands. I have experienced many times at the poker table, a loudmouth in the online chat is berating a player because of some bad beat. Often times it was just bad play on their part. Observing the chatbox can be a distraction when you are involved in a hand, but if you use it to your advantage there is nothing more satisfying then silencing the loudmouth by taking all their chips.

I was never used to other players berating me, but in a 25NL 6-max online game I was involved in recently, I have never experienced someone get upset so badly in my life. I flopped a set with 4c 4d on a 4h Ah Kd 5s 3h board. The range of my opponent was heavily weighted toward to Ax and flushes. I knew the opponent was fairly aggressive post flop and would raise the flop with most strong flush draws, so when the potential flush hit on the river, I bet, they shoved all-in, and I instantly called because I knew that in addition to flushes which got there, they could be turning a Ax hand into a bluff in this spot to fold out better hands.

Because of the insta call and picking off their bluff, the player started expressing their anger in the chatbox, berating me for what must of been at least 10 minutes, insisting I was a level 1 thinking player, whatever that means, and that I had no right to call the shove.

To be honest, I thought it was a standard call, because although it was possible they were on a flush draw in a multi way pot, they definitely had a lot of Ax combinations in their range which weren’t very strong and it was a good bluffing opportunity, so I was never betting the river with the plan to fold. I saw this as a good opportunity to join him in the conversation, in an attempt to tilt him even more and take more chips.

He was fortunate to double up his chipstack shortly after that hand from another player, and I told him I am glad we are play deep stacked because I really wanted his money. This must have intimidated him a bit and he actually left the table, but I dont regret saying it because it could have worked the other way, put him on tilt even worse, and he would have donked off more of his stack. If you see an opportunity to further tilt a loudmouth you should take it.

The next time you experience someone berating you in the chatbox, consider participating in the conversation to get them even angrier. I don’t think this is unethical, dealing with your emotions is part of the game. Trust me their ego will get in the way and they will want to be involved in a big pot with you and overplay their medium strength hand or make some stupid bluff. It’s psychological warfare at the poker table and you want to punish the emotionally weak players.

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